Console gaming

I kinda hate how the more powerful consoles get the more generic and lazy the games get.
I don't remember alot of AAA games that actually use the power of the console for something other than more realistic cutscenes and a cinematic experience.

I kinda hate how the more powerful consoles get the more generic and lazy the games get.
I don't remember alot of AAA games that actually use the power of the console for something other than more realistic cutscenes and a cinematic experience.

Dark Souls port being a massive success despite being a shitty one opened the PC doors for Japanese games, which would otherwise stay console-exclusive for the most part. There were ports before it, obviously, but none sold that well.
Which is a great thing and a bad thing.

The line between consoles and PCs is slowly getting more and more blurred - both are essentially computers with their unique OS. AAA games are standardized for consoles, and therefore limit PC's potential.
The only difference are exclusives - which aren't that exclusive anymore. Many PC games, namely indie ones, make a transition to consoles, and many traditionally console games are coming to PC (said ports, Crash Bandicoot, Gears of War, PSN streaming etc.). Also, because the architecture of consoles and PCs is now closer than ever before, emulators will be easier to build, along with the fact that they have wider audience looking for them, which makes emulator-developing a potentially lucrative, crowdfunded business. Granted, a small business, but with people to fund it.

The only deviation from this rule are handheld consoles - namely Switch which is quite unique, but also very specific in its catalogue. It's more of a niche console when compared to other platforms, and many of its games won't attract a massive audience. Can be emulated though.

In the end it all boils down to accessability. Consoles won't die out and will become more and more cheaper, while PCs will probably stagnate more as a platform. That being said, it will never die out and will have a greater catalogue of games than ever before, with ports becoming a bigger and better business opportunity.

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Yea good points. IMHO if you walk into a gaming store and slam 1 k euros/dollars into the desk, you should be able to walk away with a gaming machine that's going to work well (zero bugs etc.) and be current for quite a long time. Ok maybe more if it's a PC but whatever. And pay for games of course. I wonder what the next big evolutionary step for all gaming is going to be, new devices I guess maybe? Pokemon Go - type stuff? I guess nothing monumental is about to happen in the near future, although one never knows.

It would seem, according to my logic, logical that Nintendo would stick around since they seem to be doing a lot hardware-wise. Much of the computer etc. hardware comes from the Far-East and that's where Nintendo is so that's how my logic works.

Yea good points. IMHO if you walk into a gaming store and slam 1 k euros/dollars into the desk, you should be able to walk away with a gaming machine that's going to work well (zero bugs etc.) and be current for quite a long time. Ok maybe more if it's a PC but whatever. And pay for games of course. I wonder what the next big evolutionary step for all gaming is going to be, new devices I guess maybe? Pokemon Go - type stuff? I guess nothing monumental is about to happen in the near future, although one never knows.

It would seem, according to my logic, logical that Nintendo would stick around since they seem to be doing a lot hardware-wise. Much of the computer etc. hardware comes from the Far-East and that's where Nintendo is so that's how my logic works.

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Bugs don't really depend on the machine as much as the game.
For 1000 euros you can get a solid gaming PC. Not top class, no, but a great rig (without monitor, keyboard etc.) that will last for the current gen of consoles and then some.
Problem is games should now really be rated according to current gen consoles. If you had a high-end PC that could run multi-platform AAA games from early PS4 days, chances are you can run latest games on it too - because that same PS4 has to run a game from 5 years back and one from 2019, 2020 etc.

So the ideal scenario if you want to build a PC is to wait for the next gen and see the requirements of those games. Surpass that, and you have a machine that will last through the next gen, that is 7 years at least.
But that costs money. A lot of money.

Compared to that, a new console is cheap.

Nintendo being from Japan and tech coming from Japan doesn't mean much. For once, tech doesn't come from Japan exclusively. Nintendo is a very specific console that is more popular in Japan than the rest of the world, but that doesn't mean much. Far East doesn't dictate the evolution any more than the West does.

Pokemon Go is a revolutionary game, kind of, but it's for Android/iOS. Expect titles of that type there, maybe. Maybe not. PG was a passing fad by the looks of it.

If you ask me about the evolution of gaming - VR is where it is. For the first time since its inception VR actually works and plays pretty well, in some cases awesome. Add to the fact that AAA games strive for visual hyper-realism and it will be a thing to behold.
If gaming keeps growing (and it will), when it becomes part of everyday life even more than it is now, expect stuff like dedicated gaming rooms for VR. That's my prediction, anyway, but it's decades away.

I'll say if an "outdated" machine like the Switch can run a game with as much going on as Breath of the Wild in haldheld mode, I'll say it seems AAA games are really wasting the power they have available.

I'll say if an "outdated" machine like the Switch can run a game with as much going on as Breath of the Wild in haldheld mode, I'll say it seems AAA games are really wasting the power they have available.

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Are they?
Breath of the Wild is a big and very finely optimized game, but graphically and technically it cannot compare to other open-world games, like The Witcher 3 or Horizon Zero Dawn. The sheer power needed to run those far surpasses Breath of the Wild.

The Witcher 3 is the exception to most rules for AAA games, I can't comment on Horizon Zero down tho.

Even today you see most open world games still following the same formulas as the ones on the previous console generation, none of them have things like the emergent interactions in the envirorment BoW manages.

The elemental reactions, like burning grass creating gusts of Wind that can be used to glide, metal attracting elecricity that can be used to kill enemies with the weather or bypass parts of certain puzzles by doing things like creating bridges of swords, different attacks causing the food dropped by enemies to get altered, the weather system, all that. It's on a different level of complexity than 90% of modern open world games.

The elemental reactions, like burning grass creating gusts of Wind that can be used to glide, metal attracting elecricity that can be used to kill enemies with the weather or bypass parts of certain puzzles by doing things like creating bridges of swords, different attacks causing the food dropped by enemies to get altered, the weather system, all that. It's on a different level of complexity than 90% of modern open world games.

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That does seem pretty complex, but then again, it's a unique thing in a game that otherwise follows most open-world gameplay conventions.
TW3 has loads of unique stuff that are unique to it and the way that world works - from highly detailed interactions depending of day and night cycle to a potentially highly reactive combat system of Signs/Alchemy.
HZD also has its own unique elements, but since you haven't played it I won't type it out right now.

My point is that Zelda is a pretty amazing on its own, but it all depends on the perspective. Plenty of other AAA games, open world or not, push their own unique properties and exploit powers of other platforms.

My 2 cents, to me consoles are more casual and 'fun', you play them when having beers with buddies etc. With PC it's more indepth, but seems like the indepth-section of PC games isn't what it used to be, there aren't many games like, say, Fallout 1 and 2 out there. Console has casual fun going for it and IMHO it seems like these days casual fun is evolving quicker than indepth-style games.

And yes I know about Wasteland 2 etc. type releases, just hoping for the next 'step' in indepth gaming.

And as such, casual gaming goes back to the basics of gaming, the fundamentals.

Well, not incorrect, but there are nuances to it. Console games, especially XBox and PS, thrive on AAA action-packed games with great graphics and competitive multiplayer. These games are often categorized as "casual", that is easy to pick up and finish and potentially hard to master - but plenty of them have depth to them. Not tactical turn-based RPG kind of depth, or 4x* games kind of depth, but depth on its own right.
Not all are mindless fun, even though you have plenty of those.
Console games also often have lots of platformers and puzzles as their popular exclusives.

*Like I have said, however, lines are getting blurred. Just the other day I saw that Stellaris is coming to PlayStation. If it goes well it shows there is a market for those kind of games even on consoles, which would only serve to prove the point that consoles aren't necessary for FIFA, NBA and CoD only.
I'm not sure how well W2 and PoE fared on consoles, however. Not as well as on PC I assume, but they probably found their audience.

Probably the not needing to fiddle with components or optimising settings too much, just purchase and play. The game lineups for certain console exclusives are usually very unique and fun. Immersion is usually very strong, get a good pair of speakers or headphones and a big tv and you'll forget you're in the real world sometimes with some games. Once you learn the controls for certain games and put the time in to learn how to use the controller best for a certain game you go into a flow and start pulling off some cool moves in-game like you're one with the controller.

You can use controllers, sound systems and even connect them to a UHD tv with a PC. You don't really need to fiddle with anything unless ypu are a veteran user who wants to get some specific performance. Also PC are also useful for things other than playing games and for the most part a medium specs PC can run anything a PS4 can run.

You can use controllers, sound systems and even connect them to a UHD tv with a PC. You don't really need to fiddle with anything unless ypu are a veteran user who wants to get some specific performance. Also PC are also useful for things other than playing games and for the most part a medium specs PC can run anything a PS4 can run.

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Medium PC won't run most stuff PS4 can - and if it does, severely worse graphics.
That being said, of course it has a broader range of applications.

By top class, I mean the best of the best. Just check GPU prices.
1000e won't cover you.

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Sure it's not enough for top class(which is 2080ti), but medium ones(which is 1060 and the alt version, 1060 is already better than PS4 Pro's GPU by the way) won't cost you for more than 400 us dollars at most, 1000 euros is roughly 1200 usd, so you still have around 800 usd to buy case, MB, intel i5/AMD CPU, power, SSD or/and HDD, monitor, keyboard and mouse, and stuff required to build a sold gaming PC as a whole.
If someone tell you 1000 euros only enough for rig of a medium grade of PC that mean the someone also trying to scam you.

Sure it's not enough for top class(which is 2080ti), but medium ones(which is 1060 and the alt version, 1060 is already better than PS4 Pro's GPU by the way) won't cost you for more than 400 us dollars at most, 1000 euros is roughly 1200 usd, so you still have around 800 usd to buy case, MB, intel i5/AMD CPU, power, SSD or/and HDD, monitor, keyboard and mouse, and stuff required to build a sold gaming PC as a whole.
If someone tell you 1000 euros only enough for rig that mean the someone also trying to scam you.

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I have a rig that among other things has 1060. The whole set up cost me around 1000 euros at the time. It's a fantastic machine on its own, but that GPU alone cost more than my PS4.
My whole point is you can build a great machine, but if you are only interested in gaming consoles might be a better option simply because they are cheaper and more accessible.